CSR brings quality Bluetooth audio to entry-level portable music speakers

Mobile World Congress 2013. SPAIN: CSR plc introduced the BlueCore CSR8605 single-chip ROM Bluetooth music streaming device, a cost-optimised, highly configurable solution that delivers a quality audio experience to the extremely price-sensitive entry-level market for wireless portable music speakers.

Bluetooth 4.0 qualified, the highly integrated CSR8605 device builds upon the tremendous success CSR has already achieved in this market with a next-generation design offering rich music enhancement capabilities usually found only in much higher-featured products.

Key features include five-band music equalisation, volume boost and remote control (AVRCP) support to enable users to Play/Pause and Forward/Rewind streaming music from buttons on their portable music speaker.

“Bluetooth technology has captured the market for shared listening as the connectivity choice for streaming music from smartphones and tablets to wireless portable speakers,” said Chris Havell, senior director of Audio at CSR. “The CSR8605 device embodies CSR’s pedigree for Bluetooth audio quality to deliver a cost-optimised solution specifically tailored for differentiated entry-level portable music speaker products.”

The device is already shipping in volume to ODMs and OEMs, and a variety of wireless portable speaker products will be available this year under popular brand names.

The CSR8605 device is a low-power mono A2DP sink solution that enables a new class of quality, low-cost portable wireless music speakers. This low-power solution integrates a Bluetooth radio, baseband, an enhanced Kalimba DSP co-processor, mono audio DAC and ADC, battery charger, application software and an extensive array of I/O interfaces, including I2C, three LED drivers and plenty of general purpose PIOs in a single chip.

The integrated peripherals in the QFN packaged device reduce the number of external components required, including no requirement for external codec, battery charger, SMPS, LDOs or balun, to ensure minimum system and manufacturing costs.

As the latest addition to CSR’s Bluetooth audio ROM solutions, the CSR8605 offers the ability to customise many of the software features to achieve a particular sound and ambience, and create a quality portable experience. The CSR Configuration Tool offers ease of design with the flexibility to differentiate, and can be used to adjust Bluetooth 4.0 specification features, reconnection policies (like reconnect on power-on), a variety of audio features including five-band equalisation with up to six banks of user selectable presets, button events, voice prompts, LED indications, event tones, battery divider ratios, advanced multipoint settings for connecting to up to two A2DP sources, and more.

The CSR8605 also supports CSR proximity pairing and CSR proximity connection for fast and easy wireless music sharing enjoyment.

The BlueCore CSR8605 Bluetooth music streaming device is available now in production quantities.